


Juicy Mistake

by oly_chic



Series: Prowl Week 2020 [2]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: No pun intended, couldn't tell you the genre, maybe crack, prowl week, rated m for drugged experience
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:27:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23754583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oly_chic/pseuds/oly_chic
Summary: A young cold-constructed Prowl is about to learn why a mech shouldn’t drink from another mech’s juice box no matter how hungry he is.
Series: Prowl Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1709596
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22
Collections: Prowl Week





	Juicy Mistake

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: “High,” interpreted as high off of drugs (circuit speeders) while physically up high on a mountain. Because I can.
> 
> Also, I know nothing about drug highs (except this one time in high school where I’m pretty sure someone dosed the lollipops. I smart – I took candy from strangers). I researched and combined multiple drugs effects so it wasn't an exact match for an organic brain's experience for stims.
> 
> Secondly, this may be cheating, but Tesk is a cannon place that TFWiki has literally a one-line description and two notes. Still, Roller was there and I’m using that because there is no other reason I can think of about how Prowl might meet Roller but not Orion Pax, and I see nothing about Orion being at Tesk.
> 
> Thirdly, I'm trying to stay in line with the MTMTE Shadowplay arc (think that's the one). End notes will cover what I mean.
> 
> I don’t own Transformers.

Prowl balanced driving far enough behind his escort to avoid the decrepit mountain’s debris flying backwards from Roller’s large tires, but close enough to maintain a line of sight. Begrudgingly he was following orders to respond to a call reporting illegal activity on the road-less highland. He would have driven in Roller’s tracks if the large officer wasn’t so wide in alt mode. Thanks to his lack of the necessary configuration for off-road driving, the amount of energy being consumed was almost too great for someone who forgot to refuel before the trek. Far be it for him to vocalize his mistake, however, and return to the station in disgrace.

The fresh cop was visiting for rotational training while he waited for a transfer from Petrex to Iacon, two cities that were nothing like Tesk. Instead of a practical temporary assignment he was here, on a call out to a mountain top where young mechs were supposedly indulging in their hooligan ways. Prowl was miffed at being assigned such a mismatch job for him, suspecting it was a trick for being the least social cop of the bunch. There wasn’t proof, and his lack of building a character basis for his comrades prevented him from finding proof. Case in point, he didn’t know anything about Roller, other than he was often drinking his energon through a straw in a teal box with a yellow figure splashed across it. He didn’t understand why Roller did that, but his inquisitive nature was kept in check by his aversion to socializing with strangers.

::How you holding up?:: Roller asked.

::Acceptable,:: Prowl lied.

::We’re almost there.::

::Understood.::

Silence resonated through their comms when nothing more was said for nearly a breem. One more detail Prowl did know about Roller was that he was one of the chatty ones at the station. The silence would not last for long.

::So, how you liking it in Tesk?:: Roller asked, almost as if on cue.

::It’s a city onto its own,:: the black-and-white mech cryptically answered.

::What specifically makes it that?::

::Its very nature.:: There wasn’t much he could say since he hadn’t ventured out more than to find an energon source and the old library. Tactics that would be lost to the past if not for parchment might prove useful one orn.

::It’s nature is a bit of an oddity, I’ll give you that,:: his escort agreed. Prowl hoped for more silence but his wish wasn’t granted. ::I like a few places. Places like…:: Roller listed names of places Prowl didn’t recognize. The descriptions of said places weren’t particularly enticing.

::Shouldn’t we focus on this call?:: Prowl interrupted.

::When we’re nearly there. I may have been taking some liberties when I said ‘almost there.’::

::We’re still not close?:: he asked in disbelief. How tall was this mountain? All he knew was the mountain’s full size was masked by clouds from the factories. Those weren’t pleasant to drive through and he was a little dirtier for it.

::Well, not _a lot_ of liberties. So anyway…:: he returned to where he was at when Prowl interrupted, and Prowl muttered noncommittal noises during Roller’s one-sided conversation.

His focus had somewhat wandered when suddenly a loud and high-pitched noise rang in his audio receptors, followed by a boom and chucks of mountain raining down on Roller and him.

::Transformer! We’re under attack,:: Roller ordered the stunned Prowl.

There was one problem though – Prowl had never been in a fight, and he hadn’t an idea of what to do. All his training abandoned him and all he could do was follow Roller’s suit and transform. Roller started shooting back and Prowl poked around the large frame to spot four so-called hooligans that looked more like well-armed criminals. Shakily he fired back but his shot went wild. Meanwhile Roller ducked behind a rock almost taller than him and Prowl dove behind Roller and next to the rock. He tried hard to stop shaking, and to stop displaying fear.

Roller was firing at their challengers, his back to Prowl. The junior cop raised his gun over their cover and shot a few times while still crouched completely behind the rock.

“Two of them are down! You stay here, you’re a poor shot, and I’ll go after them,” Roller ordered. The combat-built officer jumped out and ran uphill while shooting.

He couldn’t disagree, he was too rattled by these turn off events to dare attempt proving himself. There was yelling, shooting, and then the shooting ceased only to be followed by a sound of a large object hitting the ground. He peered around to see Roller tussling with the one remaining enemy. They rolled around on the ground and started sliding downhill, only to hit a jutting rock and bounce off.

Roller used the landing to add force for a punch to his opponent’s face, and it immediately knocked him out. As the winner he stood up and brushed himself off. Gruffly he called out, “You can come out now.”

Prowl stood up slowly, vented deeply to get his wits back, and then walked out. His walking strength was rather weak. To mask it he stopped by the punched mech and surveyed the area. “I can’t believe I was just in a fight.”

“Little advice: don’t tell anyone in Iacon you were in a fight. Can’t hide it here that you were in a fight with me, but I wouldn’t say anything there because I don’t think you shot anyone. Hardly a fight for you.”

That embarrassed Prowl, knowing he was and was not in a fight when he should’ve been fully involved. He numbly nodded and couldn’t bring himself out of an intense stare at the unconscious attacker.

“I’m going up top to see if there’s any more of these bad guys,” Roller said as he looked towards the highest point of the mountain. He tossed his cuffs and a spare tie to Prowl without looking back. “Stay here and cuff all of them.”

Prowl caught the tossed objects. “Of course.” He had cuffs but the extra cuffs and tie were needed along with his so that he could restrain all four. Roller didn’t look back as he sprinted up the hill.

He was ashamed. That should have gone better! Prowl let down a fellow colleague in a dangerous situation. At least he could do this and restrain Roller’s takedowns.

Lifting the closest one so he could get his arm under the unconscious mech's back Prowl saw something beneath him. There were two boxes lying on the ground under him, one unopened and the other slowly leaking what appeared to be energon out of the straw. Prowl picked it up and moved it and the other one out of the way. His tank churned in hunger as he saw the energon. Not now, he reprimanded himself, for his first priority was to restrain everyone.

It took a couple of breems, but everyone was restrained and unconscious as they sat in a small circle. Prowl found rope by one of them and used it to tie all four together. Now to wait for Roller’s return.

Looking around at his surroundings to make sure everything was accounted, Prowl saw the energon boxes. Again his tank rumbled. “Shhh,” he scolded.

His efforts were futile as his tank and pinging alerts annoyed him with the fact he was low on energon. All the while his curiosity over the boxes grew with each ping. What did it taste like? Did the little lightning figure mean anything about the flavor? Did it even matter, given his system’s state?

What would one sip do, he reasoned. Surely Roller wouldn’t notice a sip missing. Timidly Prowl approached the boxes as if they would bite him. He stood over them until his curiosity grew enough to overcome his trepidation. When the flavor touched his glossa it was something he’d never tasted before now. A strange flavor for sure, neither sweet nor sour. Maybe a little sour.

As soon that sip entered his tank, his system cried out for more. His curiosity wanted more so it could identify the flavor. He took another sip, this time faster, and then another until the box was empty. Greed set in and the hungry mech downed the other box as fast as the straw allowed.

As the last gulp finished he suddenly felt strange. The ground felt like cushions beneath him and suddenly he wanted to collapse back into their soft embrace. Wait, no - they were rocks and metal bits. _Do not collapse_ , a part of his mind admonished him for thinking to do so. Yet as it spoke it grew weaker. The cushions felt softer beneath his peds. What was he worried about? Oh, something about the cushions not being as soft as he wanted.

A strange sound escaped his mouth, and it took him a klik to recognize it. A giggle? He did not giggle! He tried raising his arms to smother his continuing giggle, but his arms felt so heavy. Like they needed to rest on the cushions because they were too heavy to carry.

Fighting the urge to flop down onto the ground, because Prowl did not flop, he carefully balanced himself into a sitting position and then laid back. Ah yes, so comfy, although there was a weird sensation in the middle of his back, between his pressed doorwings. What was that sensation called? Sharp - that's what it was called. A sharp sensation.

There was that cursed giggling again! He resumed trying to cover it up but to no avail. Instead he noticed that his dim and dingy surroundings were bleeding and blending together.

"Prowl?!"

The words echoed inside his helm with no recognition. Orange appeared in his vision, blurry at first and then bleeding. The bleeding stopped as the world started moving. Something was waving in front of him.

"Prowl, what did you do?! Answer me!"

If only he could stop giggling to answer, he thought as he finally comprehended what he was hearing. "Can't... answer..." Wait, he was speaking. So now he could answer. "Forgot to fuel before coming here. Consumed too much energy. So hungry, drank your energon boxes. Sorry?"

"Boxes, as in plural?" There was a pause and the orange moved around. "Oh Primus, you drank both of them dry."

Prowl felt his limp body get dragged, and it took him a moment to realize that orange - Roller, that was the orange blob's name - had dragged him into his lap. The other mech wrapped his arms around Prowl and said, "Please don't overdose and die."

The giggling returned after having faded. What was it like to be orange, or any color that wasn't described as boring? Does it change one's personality, to have something more expressive than black and white? Hold on a klik he wasn't completely black and white, he had a red chevron. Maybe at some point he should add more red. Give himself more flare. Maybe then he would be more approachable. Since when did he want to be approachable?

It was time to broach the subject and he should do it with all his coworkers. The giggling immediately ceased and he tried popping up. He was unaware of how brightly his optics were glowing. "We need to get back to the station! I need a vote on approachable appearances. See if it's any good."

"What are you talking about? No, Prowl, you need to do very little." The arms tightened around him.

The Petrex mech tried fighting back with uncoordinated struggling. "Let me go. I need to move. The colors are starting to move faster; I need to move with them. Maybe they'll take me back to the station."

"You aren't making any sense but you shouldn’t move anyway."

"Let me go or I'll turn into color and disappear into the swirling mass." There was so much color, and it was twirling and growing brighter. The dingy world around him was leaving him one so much prettier. Finally there was some beauty in his world.

"I don't understand you. Stop squirming!" Roller was starting to become crisper in the light of all the colors, as his movements kept his colors from blending into the others. The big mass of color was fighting him, but suddenly Roller let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, I'll let you go but there's no way we're going to the station. Just be normal soon, okay?"

"What is normal? This is right, but it's not normal?" Was his words rushed?

"What? That was fast Prowl. You need to slow down." A hand touched his shoulder but Prowl pulled back.

"I'm fine. I'm magic. This whole world is magic. Let's go, I need an answer about the red paint!"

"What red paint? No, stop!" Prowl had taken off before Roller could finish the word "paint." He ran, wondering how long running to the station takes. With the colors swirling so fast around him, he must be moving very fast. Too bad there wasn't a faster way to move.

He heard the large thump of something hitting the ground and then the rev of an engine. Before he could find a way to coordinate his limbs to stop and look, there was another sound of gears turns and this time much closer. Prowl turned his helm just in time to see Roller catch him and grab him around the chassis in a great hug. Their momentum of sliding to a stop forced Prowl's legs to fly up.

Prowl pushed back. Surely he had the strength to fight this monster-sized mech. As he pushed nothing happened, so he could only conclude this monster had super strength. "Are you a dragon?"

"I don't know where that came from, but you need to calm down Prowl. Please, calm down," Roller begged.

"Calmness is for losers. I'm always calm and I've never won anything," he complained. With a kick of his legs he started squirming and pushing back. Logically if calmness meant losing, then squirming like a turbofox in a trap would win him his freedom. He could win for the first time at this rate; he was so awake and ready to go!

"Jeez, mood swing much? Going from calling yourself magic to saying you're a loser. You're not a loser Prowl, now stop squirming." Roller ordered through gritted dentae.

"Yes I am. Oh no, what if I really am?" Prowl stopped squirming and tried putting his trapped hands on his helm. "What if I really am a loser? They won't transfer me to the Iaconian Mechaforensic Division because I am such a loser." His belief of being able to free himself from the dragon evaporated and was replaced by a consuming fear that he wasn't good enough for his desired future.

He felt the chassis pressed against his back raise and then lower, a sign that the mech holding him had taken in a deep vent. Prowl was suddenly aware of his doorwings pinched in Roller's armpits. An upward twist of the helm revealed a concerned face with pressed lips looking down on him.

"I'm going to set you down, and you need to promise me you won't run."

"I promise I no longer feel fast enough to outrun a dragon."

"I'm not a dragon, but whatever. I'll take it." Roller set him down but kept both hands on Prowl's shoulders. At his height it wasn't hard to miss the doorwings.

Prowl finally covered his face with his hands. His optics shuttered before opening again, and he was keenly aware of every seam and scratch on his hands. They were mesmerizing and he forgot why he put his hands up to his face.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Roller asked.

"Talk about what?"

"Are you serious? Your worry about Iacon and all that stuff."

"Yes, that." Prowl put down his hands and gazed out. What was that, off in the distance? Was that another dragon? A real dragon this time, and not one disguised as a mech. It was awfully bright like an array of rainbow colors. "I'd rather fight that dragon over there and prove I can fight. I could use another dragon's help, though, since I am not good at it. Onward to our battle."

The hands on his shoulders tightened and pulled him back when he tried moving. "Let me go so I may prove myself against that dragon. It's sneering at me. It needs to be slain."

"Someone's been reading too many old stories," Roller muttered. "How about we sit and you tell me all about that dragon you wait to slay?"

"Sitting doesn't slay," Prowl pointed out.

"Tell me how you would slay it, then. Brainstorm with me, but I need to sit. I've been in two fights."

"Two?" Prowl looked up and tilted his helm backwards to see an upside down Roller. "When was the second one?"

"At the top of the mountain, after the one we had. Now sit, Prowl."

Prowl obliged, but kept his helm upside down. A thought occurred. "May I at least turn around so I may look at you right?"

"Yeah, sure."

Prowl used his hands to crawl around to face Roller, and then sat cross-legged. "Will you watch the dragon and make sure it doesn't attack my back?"

"Suuuure."

Prowl went into detail of the tactics he learned from the parchments and how he would slay the dragon, his words picking up pace until he barely understood himself. His thoughts were faster. Roller was nodding along, so perhaps the dragon understood super speed.

 _My vents are feeling funny,_ he realized. He wasn't venting right. "Excuse me while I let my air systems catch up."

"Finally," Roller muttered. "I don't know how much more of this I can take; I can't wait for this to wear off. So glad you don't look like you're about to overdose, at least."

"What to wear off? Overdose on what?" Prowl blinked at him.

"Never mind."

After a breem passed and everything felt good again, Prowl straightened his back and gave a small but eager smile. "Ready to slay that dragon?"

"You and I are just going to stay here. We'll move when the dragon moves, and the dragon is not moving. It is completely and totally still. You don't need to do a thing but wait everything out."

"Of course I should wait everything out," Prowl morosely replied. His shoulders slumped. "Who am I kidding, I can't even harm a dragon, much less slay it. How am I supposed to prove myself to Iacon now? They are going to reject me."

"Primus on a jumping stick, stop having these mood swings."

"Sorry," Prowl mumbled.

Roller sighed. "Look, I'm not great at comforting words, but you're going to be okay. They set you up on a rotational training plan to strengthen an already impressive resume. No one is going to reject you."

"Yes, they will. My resume is weak."

"I heard the captain call it remarkable."

"It's weak," Prowl repeated, not really hearing Roller. More words from Roller followed, but Prowl just looked to the ground, wallowing in self-pity that he would not get the position.

Arms wrapped around him but this time the grasp was gentler. "What are you doing?" Prowl whispered.

"I'm hugging you to make you feel better. I know I don't exactly have shoulders meant for helms to rest against, but rest your helm against my chassis."

He moved forward and rested his helm as instructed. The warm frame against his was nice.

"Good, now just focus on your air systems venting." Prowl continued following Roller's instructions.

"Great. Now listen to me, Prowl. You are going to be fine. I'm sure you'll even learn how to handle a fight. Once you do that and maybe learn a few interpersonal skills you'll have a perfect resume. Be a perfect officer."

"You think so?"

"I know so. Let me tell you about the best officer I know, someone I think you can aspire to be some orn." The story started off with a soft tone, growing more normal and steady the longer it went. It became louder when the colors began to fade to their dingy shades, although his voice wasn't actually loud.

"Uuuuhhh," Prowl moaned when the world was sharp in contrast and free of rainbows. There was a dull pain in his helm. He knew it was not a dragon holding him against his chassis, but a fellow officer. "What happened?"

"The extra dose of strength in my energon boxes was a bit too much for your frame."

"Why do you have an extra dose of strength?" With a firm push he was free of Roller. Now to make sure his embarrassment of needing an embrace did not become noticeable.

"Another time. Right now we got some criminals to round up and take back, assuming they didn't manage to free themselves during all of this."

"Of course." That embarrassment was really growing.

"Next time fuel up before you leave, okay? Don't want you trying another mech's energon. Never know what his frame demands are, and if his energon is special."

Prowl grimaced. "Of course, I will take better care to refuel more often. Please do not say anything back at the station."

Roller half grinned. "I was about to say the same." Prowl thought it peculiar that Roller would want to hide this, but didn't have a chance to ask before Roller turned. "Let's go."

Prowl quietly followed. Everything was a bit confusing when he tried thinking back on what happened. He didn't remember much, except that maybe another red highlight might be nice on his next upgrade. So long as he focused on that and not the cloud of anxiety about his future hanging over his helm he would be fine.

**Author's Note:**

> Tried not trampling all over the MTMTE flashback part where Chromedome says to another mech about how the frightened Prowl has never been in a fight before, while they are in the middle of a shootout.


End file.
